In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, new requirements for clean air supply are introduced for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. One way for HVAC systems to efficiently remove airborne viruses is by filtering them. Unlike disposable filters that require repeated purchases of consumables, the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is an alternative option without the drawback of reduced dust collection efficiency in high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters due to dust buildup. The majority of viruses have a diameter ranging from 0.1 μm to 5 μm. This study proposed a two-stage ESP, which charged airborne viruses and particles via positive electrode ionization wire and collected them on a collecting plate with high voltage. Numerical simulations were conducted and revealed a continuous decrease in collection efficiencies between 0.1 μm and 0.5 μm, followed by a consistent increase from 0.5 μm to 1 μm. For particles larger than 1 μm, collection efficiencies exceeding 90% were easily achieved with the equipment used in this study. Previous studies have demonstrated that the collection efficiency of suspended particles is influenced by both the ESP voltage and turbulent flow at this stage. To improve the collection efficiency of aerosols ranging from 0.1 μm to 1 μm, this study used a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) in combination with numerical simulations to obtain the optimal parameter combination of ionization voltage and flow speed. The particle collection performance of the ESP was examined under the Japan Electrical Manufacturers’ Association (JEMA) standards and showed consistent collection performance throughout the experiment. Moreover, after its design was optimized, the precipitator collected aerosols ranging from 0.1 μm to 3 μm, demonstrating an efficiency of over 95%. With such high collection efficiency, the proposed ESP can effectively filter airborne particles as efficiently as an N95 respirator, eliminating the need to wear a mask in a building and preventing the spread of droplet infectious diseases such as COVID-19 (0.08 μm–0.16 μm).

中文翻译：

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用于去除气溶胶和空气传播病毒的静电除尘器设计优化

在 COVID-19 大流行期间，对供暖、通风和空调 (HVAC) 系统引入了清洁空气供应的新要求。HVAC 系统有效去除空气传播病毒的一种方法是过滤它们。与需要重复购买耗材的一次性过滤器不同，静电除尘器 (ESP) 是一种替代选择，不会因灰尘堆积而降低高效微粒空气 (HEPA) 过滤器的集尘效率。大多数病毒的直径在 0.1 μm 到 5 μm 之间。本研究提出了一种两级静电除尘器，通过正极电离丝使空气中的病毒和颗粒带电，并收集在高压收集板上。进行了数值模拟，发现收集效率在 0.1 μm 和 0.5 μm 之间持续下降，随后从 0.5 μm 持续增加到 1 μm。对于大于 1 μm 的颗粒，使用本研究中使用的设备可以轻松实现超过 90% 的收集效率。先前的研究表明，悬浮颗粒的收集效率受该阶段 ESP 电压和湍流的影响。为提高0.1 μm~1 μm气溶胶的收集效率，本研究采用多目标遗传算法（MOGA）结合数值模拟，得到电离电压和流速的最优参数组合。ESP 的颗粒收集性能根据日本电气制造商协会 (JEMA) 标准进行了检查，并在整个实验过程中显示出一致的收集性能。此外，经过优化设计后，除尘器可收集0.1 μm至3 μm的气溶胶，效率超过95%。凭借如此高的收集效率，拟议的 ESP 可以像 N95 呼吸器一样有效地过滤空气中的颗粒，无需在建筑物中佩戴口罩，并防止飞沫传染病的传播，例如 COVID-19（0.08 μm–0.16 μm） ).